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"Buy a BMW for 170,000 yuan", "BMW withdraws from price war", "BMW reveals unfair terms and refuses to deliver the car"...

Recently, BMW has been frequently searched due to the intensive adjustment of its sales strategy, sparking continuous heated discussions. Amid fierce market competition, this century-old automobile brand is experiencing a "troubled autumn".

Recently, Securities Times e-company reporters visited several BMW 4S stores in Beijing. The current public opinion storm does not seem to have affected the daily marketing in the store.

Several sales staff told reporters that due to the impact of the price war, the early price reduction strategy did affect the store's operations, and luxury brands are generally under great pressure now.

"The current i3 has a different price every day"

On the afternoon of July 22, Securities Times e-company reporters visited several BMW 4S stores in Beijing. Among them, Baoxinxing and Yingzhibao are two 4S stores that have been distributing BMW brand for a long time, and their exhibition hall areas are far larger than those of other dealers.

However, there was no BMW i3 on display in the huge exhibition hall. During a visit by Securities Times e-company reporters in the second half of 2023, the two 4S stores mentioned above also placed the i3 in a more prominent position in the store.

The sales staff of Baoxin Bank told reporters that there are only test drive cars of the high-end version of i3 in the store at present, and if you are interested in buying it, you will have to wait 1-2 months.

"Before, the 170,000 yuan price for a BMW was very popular online, and the discount was given by dealers in the south. But if you want to buy a whole car for 170,000 yuan, you also need to add 13,800 yuan of decoration and 4,500 yuan of service fees, and the final bare car transaction price is about 180,000 yuan. But the lowest price sold in Beijing some time ago was 188,000 yuan, and the landing price was about 200,000 yuan. But now this price is no longer available."The salesperson told the reporter that the price increase of i3 is a foregone conclusion, and there are very few cars in stock, so basically all reservations are required.

One particularly interesting detail is that in the exhibition hall on the second floor of Baoxinxing, the salesperson told the reporter that the current price of the low-end version of the i3 is just over 200,000 yuan for the bare car, and the landing price is about 220,000 yuan. When the reporter and the salesperson walked to the exhibition hall on the first floor, he suddenly showed the reporter the latest group message on WeChat. A yellow Excel spreadsheet showed that the price of the low-end version of the BMW i3 has been adjusted to 226,500 yuan for the bare car, which means that if you buy this model now, the landing price will reach more than 240,000 yuan. The two quotations were only about 10 minutes apart.

“i3Now the price basically changes every day."The above salesperson said that the previous big price cuts affected the store's business, and the current trend is to adjust prices upward.

At another BMW 4S store, Yingzhibao, the salesperson gave a landing price of 220,000 yuan for the low-end version of the i3.

4S stores have different sales strategies

During the actual investigation, the reporter found that even though they were all BMW dealers, the product discounts they offered were not consistent.

For example, in terms of financial loans, sales staff of Baosheng Bank told the Securities Times e-company reporter that buyers of i3 can now enjoy BMW Financial's three-year interest-free loan service, achieving 0 down payment for car purchases.

At another BMW 4S store, Yingzhibao, a salesperson stressed that if one wanted to purchase the low-end version of the i3 at the landing price of 220,000 yuan, one must take out a bank installment loan and pay the corresponding interest.

When the reporter asked whether it was possible to buy the car in full, the salesperson replied that it was not recommended, implying that if the car was not purchased with a loan, it would have to be purchased at a higher price.

In addition, the salesperson also revealed that the current i3 inventory is very tight. As one of the larger BMW 4S stores in Beijing, it only has a single-digit number of i3 cars in stock, and the colors are not complete.

Recently, with the price increase of BMW i3, some BMW 4S stores refused to deliver the cars and tried to sell i3 to consumers who had already placed orders at a higher price. Regarding this "unfair terms", the sales staff of the BMW 4S stores visited by the reporter said that such problems would not occur and that the orders and prices would be locked once the money was paid.

In fact, BMW China has also made an official response to the situation where some stores refused to deliver cars, saying that the cases involved are individual cases, and the specific circumstances of each case are different. BMW China is actively communicating with relevant dealers, urging BMW authorized dealers to comply with the "Automobile Sales Management Measures" and related laws, regulations and contractual agreements to safeguard consumer rights.

Although the response from BMW can alleviate consumers' concerns to a certain extent, a series of recent actions by BMW dealers, including inconsistent sales strategies among various sales outlets, have revealed the reality that BMW lacks the power to control some dealers.

Public information shows that BMW's sales and service network covers the whole country, with more than 740 dealerships and service outlets in China.

Under the fierce price war competition, many dealer stores are facing serious losses and high inventories, which is why some dealers are offering "discounted" prices for promotions.

Facing the dilemma of dealers, BMW's solution is to "advance and retreat together" with dealers and provide a number of subsidy policies to ease the cash flow pressure of dealers. But the reality is that in the absence of absolute constraints, dealers' frequent price adjustments and defaults on delivery have caused certain damage to the BMW brand.

The new i3 will be equipped with EVE lithium-ion batteries

Due to the limited inventory of i3, the sales staff were not particularly enthusiastic to recommend this model to the reporter. Several BMW 4S store sales staff said that BMW will launch a new i3 in September. Although the overall design style will not change much, the comprehensive configuration will still be updated.

In addition, Yingzhibao's sales staff also revealed an important piece of information to reporters, that is, the new i3 will switch from the battery of CATL to the battery of EVE Energy. It is reported that the battery of EVE Energy equipped in the new i3 is a ternary lithium battery, and the specific mileage has not been disclosed.

The cooperation between BMW and EVE Energy can be traced back to 2022. In September of that year, the BMW Group announced that it had awarded CATL and EVE Energy a battery cell production demand contract worth over 10 billion euros. At the beginning of 2023, EVE Energy started construction of a storage and power battery project in Shenyang, Liaoning. In October of the same year, EVE Energy invested 1 billion euros to build a battery factory in Debrecen, Hungary. It is reported that these two factories mainly supply BMW.

Editor: Peng Bo

Proofreading: Yang Lilin